During a Tuesday radio appearance, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte (right) argued that Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones' leadership style has created a rift as council debates a new Spurs arena. Left: Pixlr / Wikimedia Commons, SuperWIKI; Right: Michael Karlis" class="uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle"> click to enlarge During a Tuesday radio appearance, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte (right) argued that Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones' leadership style has created a rift as council debates a new Spurs arena. - Left: Pixlr / Wikimedia Commons, SuperWIKI; Right: Michael Karlis
Left: Pixlr / Wikimedia Commons, SuperWIKI; Right: Michael Karlis
During a Tuesday radio appearance, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte (right) argued that Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones' leadership style has created a rift as council debates a new Spurs arena.
Despite fears Spurs fans have expressed online, the team's ownership hasn't made any threats to relocate, even as the mayor and members of City Council tussle over whether to pause negotiations for a new NBA arena, District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte said.
"In terms of the Spurs, they haven't made any of those threats or anything," Whyte said during an appearance on San Antonio Sports Star's The Blitz with Jason & Joe radio show.
Whyte gave the interview as Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones undertakes a media blitz to build public support for a "strategic pause" in the city's negotiations with Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) and for an independent economic impact analysis on Project Marvel, the massive sports-and-entertainment complex of which the team's proposed arena would be part.
Jones appears to have little support from council or city staff in calling for the pause or the additional study.
Although Whyte said the Spurs haven't threatened to leave, he's still concerned that larger, more affluent markets may read the tension at City Hall as a chance to lure away the Silver and Black.
"It is important to note that there are cities like Seattle, Las Vegas, Nashville and Austin that are all dying to get an NBA team and are calling every single day," Whyte said. "And a bunch of the Spurs' owners — some are here locally, but some of them are not. And those folks just care about their investment, and they want to double, triple their investment regardless of where the team is."
Indeed, tech mogul Michael Dell and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia — both part of the team's ownership group — live in Austin.
Jones was unavailable for comment at press time Wednesday. However, in an interview with KSAT the night before, she appeared unconcerned that San Antonio's only sports franchise is preparing to blow town.
"That is a decision for the Spurs to make," Jones said.
"We are so far from that, and I think nobody wants that," she added. "We also don't need to go into this operating from a place of fear."
Jones has been leading a lonely crusade in calling for an independent economic impact study on Project Marvel. An analysis shared on the project by consultant CSL International is "inadequate and insulting to taxpayers," the mayor wrote in an op-ed she published this week in the San Antonio Report.
Political experts have told the Current that the mayor's concerns about the report are valid. However, they also cautioned that she may lack the political capital to win over council due to political missteps during her first months in office.
During his radio interview, Whyte appeared to give merit to that concern, saying Jones' leadership style has created a rift.
"We need to work together to figure out how to solve the problems of our citizens, and the mayor should be leading that effort, bringing people together, having it be a collaborative situation, because we're better when we're working on things together," the councilman said. "And right now, that's not the case. She's head-butting with council, she's head-butting with staff. It's not just an uncomfortable place to be, but it's also not a productive place to be."
In a statement emailed to the Current, Whyte said he and the majority of council are still looking to finalize a term-sheet, or a non-binding document outlining terms of a deal, with SS&E by the end of the month. That agreement with the Spurs would provide transparency to voters before they cast ballots in November on a proposed increase in the county venue tax to 2%, he added.
The additional revenue from the venue tax would partially fund the proposed arena.
City Manager Erik Walsh declined to say whether Jones needs support from the majority of council to order up a second Project Marvel economic impact report. However, he told the Current he'll be "looking for direction from the mayor and council before any additional steps are taken on this additional analysis."
"I don't know if it's because this whole thing started before this mayor got here, and she doesn't like it because she's not going to be the one to get the credit for it, or what the heck it is," Whyte said. "But, there is a lot of political games I think going on the other side over there."
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